Dumb Battery Question

I put a Duracell Ultra Gold in my truck yesterday. Or, in retrospect, I allowed the FNG at the automotive store complete the "free" install. I watched him bring his hot box out to hook up to my battery leads so that all my presets would be preserved, but he never connected it. He took twice as long as I would have, he borrowed tools I had in my truck, and he squirted some kind of terminal and connector cleaner on parts it wasn't intended for. So, I am happy with the battery, happy with the price, and happy with the reviews I read on line. But, now I have to reprogram all my radio presets, re-find where I left off on the CD audio book I was listening too, reset my clock, Reset my disable of the incessant ding-dong of the seatbelt warning, and I guess drive a while till my control unit finds a happy place with my driving habits. I learned an important lesson, again: Never let someone else do something for you that you can do yourself.

 

My household goes through a LOT of car batteries. Not me, personally, but my dad has had horrible luck with Advance Auto batteries. Sometimes he has taken them back for warranty replacements 2-3 times in the same summer. I haven't had his luck with car batteries, but I can agree that Advance Auto motorcycle batteries are junk.
Part of the problem is that my dad lets his cars sit around (because we have so many projects). Literally every time he walks out to start the Corvette up, the battery is junk.
Almost every time, the battery fails due to an internal short. 2 of the lead plates inside are touching each other somehow.

About replacing batteries - I wait until my battery starts to fail, and then some. I usually procrastinate on buying batteries because nobody wants to pay $150 for a black box in the hood. My friend worked at Auto Zone in Elkins, WV and BOYYYY were those guys salty about buying batteries for their diesel trucks. They are $200 ea, and they got 2! You gotta replace them both at the same time or the old one will take the new one out again.

My logic is, if my battery starts to get weak, I'll replace it. I don't see a point in replacing a perfectly good battery 'after 3 or 5 years' just because "it might fail spontaneously". I figure the odds of the battery having an internal short are the same at 3 weeks or 3 years in my experience.
Most of the cars I've owned - I bought them with 3-4 year old batteries, drove them for 4 years, and sold them with the same battery! My 2000 Tacoma had a battery dated 5/10 and I sold it in 10/17.

As far as brands? Heck if I know. 8 years of car ownership and I've never had to pay attention to which brand is good. I figure most of them are just the same battery rebranded over and over anyway. I sure as heck know Optima aint with the coin though.

 

This "internal short" you describe is most likely from letting it run dead. Lead acid (what typical car batteries are made of) batteries slowly discharge when not in use. Lead acid also hates being "deep cycled" which is a fancy term for letting it discharge. If a vehicle is going to sit unused it's a good idea the put a trickle charger on it to keep the battery from deep cycling. If you plan to do this (store & not use for long periods) then a battery made specifically for being deep cycled is what you should choose. These are what some (not all!) of the Optima batteries & marine/boating batteries are made for & why they cost more because they don't use the less-expensive lead acid that typical vehicle batteries use that work fine for common applications.

 

On the topic of jump boxes, the little NOCO jump boxes are tits!!!! Great for the bike and the truck. Comes in handy for a power source to charge phones and laptops and jumpstart dead batteries and it’s maybe the size of a small book. Fits easily in a backpack or center console.

 

Unless you have specific needs the "best" may not mean any difference to you in real life application. It's more like regular, mid-grade & premium gas in that you go with what is meant for your vehicle because "better" is just a waste of money.

 

Costco, whatever they are selling, best price and return policy.

 

I'm sure this is the cause. I would change my reply to "advance auto batteries don't like being left dead/let sit for long periods of time."
I don't know. He's had the Corvette sitting in the garage, unmoved, for 19 years now, but the 'Advance Auto batteries are junk' mantra is only a few years old.

 

Every aircraft I’ve ever worked on has had a dead battery, rotor and fixed wing.

 

Parasitic drawl

 

When I was doing appliance service work, I put over almost 50K miles/year on my truck. I used DURALAST batteries from AUTOZONE. 3 year -free replacement (5 yr prorated ) warranty. Whenever I started having battery problems, I would go to the nearest AZ store ( they're everywhere), and they would pop in a new one for a few bucks at the most - no questions asked. No bragging rights on a Duralast, but as long as my truck starts every time who gives a sh*t.

- JAMES

 

I put my tester on my battery the day they told me and it was as low as they claimed, 1/2 the CCA marked on the battery, just to clear that up. I'll have time and $ to get a new battery this weekend. When it comes to purchases like this, I never cheap out, and usually go for higher performance because of how I use my vehicles, I just didn't see the point in going Optima again when something 1/2 the price will be just as good. And knowing me, I'll end up adding stuff to my truck like more lights and who knows what else, even though I currently don't think I will, so I'll get something that can handle more of a draw, cheaper than buying another battery later. It'll be kinda fun to hear what the sales people tell me too.

 

Surprising there are no date stickers on the case to tell you its age. I'd recommend an interstate or diehard, from a local store (easy return/exchange if any issues). Currently I am running an Exide from Kragen/O'Reilly only because I needed a new battery immediately and they were the closest available option. 4 years later, still good.

 

The sticker is on there, nobody pulled the dates.

 

If you never leave town, buy anything recommended by the self appointed TW battery experts. If you travel, there is a lot of piece of mind buying your battery from a "big box" retailer. (coast to coast warranty availability) Most are made by the few remaining U.S. battery mfr's and have decent quality and warranties.

 

I like this video, which taught me how to check for parasitic draw...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n5FJDgcdii8